


Pushing Daisies

by agrajag



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Pushing Daisies Fusion, Gay Richie Tozier, M/M, Resurrection, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:15:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22943923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agrajag/pseuds/agrajag
Summary: The last thing he remembered was... throwing a rock? Had he been 13? Or 40?What was time?It didn't matter now. All there was -- was silence?And then --He was on stage. He was telling a joke about his boyfriend, and killing it.Wait. That wasn't right. He wasn't out.Being in the Deadlights gives Richie the power to bring back the dead.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier/Stanley Uris, Patricia Blum Uris/Stanley Uris
Comments: 2
Kudos: 39





	Pushing Daisies

**Author's Note:**

> for [eliza](https://twitter.com/stanley_lovebot) who tweeted the idea and i ran with it

The last thing he remembered was... throwing a rock? Had he been 13? Or 40?

What was time?

It didn't matter now. All there was -- was silence?

And then --

He was on stage. He was telling a joke about his boyfriend, and killing it.

Wait. That wasn't right. He wasn't out. Steve wasn't his "boyfriend." He was just Richie's manager whose dick he sometimes sucked.

But then he wasn't on stage anymore.

He was back in his apartment. It looked neater than usual, however. Far neater than he had ever seen it. Except maybe on move in day. There was actual art on the walls, and Richie could smell something absolutely delicious coming from the kitchen.

"Richie, could you open the wine?" a voice asked, and Richie felt an overwhelming rush of love.

He didn't get to see who it was cooking, though, because suddenly he was in a restaurant, surrounded by the Losers. Stan was there as well, and Richie was on the verge of tears.

"For goodness sake, Rich, are you going to break down every time we have one of our meet ups?" he asked.

As if he wasn't fucking dead.

But there wasn't time to worry about that, because there was an excruciating pain flaring through his back, ripping him once more to another location.

Except --

\-- it was the sewer.

Eddie was leaning over him, and he looked so happy, and for a moment Richie thought that everything _must_ be alright.

The claw came down, piercing right through Eddie's chest, blood splattering onto Richie. He was so shocked that he didn't even cry out. It wasn't until they were attacking Pennywise that he managed to truly find his voice again. They ripped that bastard clown's heart out of his chest, and they were finally free.

But then Richie tripped and grabbed onto the nearest thing to regain his balance. Which unfortunately had been the damn clown.

Pennywise opened his eyes, and Richie screamed loudly as he punched him right in his stupid red nose.

"Okay. _Now_ I think he's dead," he said with a nervous laugh. Bill and Mike joined him, and didn't seem to be able to stop. Richie did, though, when he remembered... "Eddie."

He ran over to where they had left Eddie, and his heart nearly stopped as he skidded to a stop in front of him. He didn't want to admit it, but Eddie didn't look good.

He hadn't realized he had started crying until Bev had wiped his face before laying her hand on his shoulder and saying... _something_ calming. It wasn't as if he was paying much attention because he refused to believe it.

"No, no. He has to be alright," he said. "He's fine. He's..."

Richie leaned in and touched Eddie's cheek. He wasn't breathing. No, no, no. He couldn't be dead.

But then Eddie gasped and shot forward.

"I'm not dead?" he asked, and then, "I'm not dead!"

He pulled up his shirt, and sure enough, the hole in his chest was completely healed.

"Holy shit," Bill said.

"Did Richie do that?" Bev asked.

"He brought Pennywise back too," Mike pointed out. "So, yeah, I think... I think he did."

"Richie, thank you. I... thank you," Eddie said.

He tried to lean in and hug Richie, and Richie retreated so fast, another flare of pain shot up his back.

"I also killed him again when I punched him," Richie said quickly when he saw how hurt Eddie looked. "And I doubt the punch itself did that, So, uh, better safe than sorry, right?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. Right," Eddie said. "Uh, so Ben? Mike? Wanna give me a hand up then?"

"Sure," Ben said, swooping in like the Disney prince he was.

Mike grabbed Eddie's other hand, and together the two studs helped Eddie to his feet.

And then Niebolt started crashing down around them.

They filed out of the sewer, this time with Eddie leading the pack and only Richie bringing up the rear.

When they jumped into the quarry, Richie made sure to swim as far away as possible from the rest of the Losers and still be able to hear them.

"So..." Eddie said, after he had finally finished complaining about how the water was disgusting. "What do we do now?"

"Well, first off, Mike is getting the fuck out of here," Bill said.

"Oh yes," Mike agreed. "I love the library, but it's time to travel. It's long overdue."

"I think I'd like to travel too," Ben said, smiling at Bev.

In lieu of an answer, she dragged him off, probably to make out, since they never had the opportunity to when they were teenagers. 

Still gross.

"What about you, Richie?" Eddie asked.

Richie looked up from where he'd been cleaning his glasses and nearly shouted when he saw how close Eddie had gotten.

"Oh, uh, actually... I saw something in the Deadlights. I think... I'm supposed to go save Stan?"

"You think it'll work days later?"

Richie shrugged.

"I have to try at least."

"Want company on your trip?" Eddie laughed at the face Richie made. "I'll sit in the back of the car when we're driving, if that makes you feel better."

"Yeah, it does a little bit, actually," Richie admitted. "But don't you have a wife to get home to?"

"Hopefully not," Richie gasped. "I mean, I'm going to start divorce proceedings! I didn't kill her before leaving for Derry."

"Oh, now that would have been something."

And then Richie did something he hadn't in years.

Genuinely laughed at his own joke.

If you could even call it a joke. But Mike and Bill started laughing too, so it must have at least resembled a joke. Eddie only glared at them, but it didn't fully reach his eyes. He looked happier than Richie could ever remember seeing him.

Although that wasn't saying much since his memories were still slowly coming back.

"Alright then. Who's up for a trip to..."

He snapped his fingers in front of Mike's face.

"Atlanta," he replied with a sigh.

"Cool. Atlanta. So you're in, right?"

"Yeah. Of course," Bill said, ever the leader.

\--------------------------------------

So the six of them flew out to Atlanta. Just in time for Stan's funeral. They met Patty, who was wonderful, despite everything she was going through. She was an incredibly brave and strong woman. Richie almost felt awful for what he was about to do.

(Because they had agreed on the way there that they couldn't tell her. They couldn't tell anyone.)

The Losers asked for their moment alone and, after saying what Richie was sure was a totally butchered Jewish prayer, gently touched Stan's hand.

Nothing.

Well, of _course_ he didn't actually have powers. That would be crazy.

And then Stan started gasping for air as he lurched forward in the coffin, causing it to shake.

"What the fuck?" he yelled, and Bev shushed him. "No. Don't you shush me. This is the only way for you guys to beat Pennywise. I've accepted it. I know it's difficult, but I need you all to as well. Let me die in peace."

"Hey, we already beat him," Mike said, trying to calm Stan down.

They all took turns filling him in, as quickly as they could, because they only had so long and soon they had the fun job of sneaking him out of the funeral home. It involved a disguise hidden in Bev's purse, some rocks they rest of them had stuffed in their pockets, and a ridiculous amount of luck.

Thankfully, it worked.

Well, at least long enough for them to get away, which is all that really mattered.

"So, now what?" Stan asked once they were driving off in the van they had rented at the airport.

He looked so small in his crisp, new suit and Richie wanted nothing more than to hug him -- but he couldn't.

"You and Eds can come live with me in Chicago, if you want. I'll Undeath Proof the place."

"Yeah. I mean, why not? What else can I do?"

"Wow. Way to make a guy feel good about his sweet ass apartment."

"Hey," Eddie said, patting Stan's shoulder before he could go off on Richie, like old times. "It'll be alright. You're not alone. You've got me to help you through it."

Bev coughed.

"And the rest of us too," she said, giving Eddie a pointed look. "No one is abandoning another Loser now that we finally have each other back."

"Yeah, we've got each other's backs," Bill said. "Even if we are a little spread out around the country. Hey, we should meet up whenever we can and have a nice meal. What do you guys think about that? Just no Chinese. At least for awhile. I think I might puke if I try to eat any lo mein."

"Oh, agreed," Ben said.

The Losers continued talking around him, and Richie let their voices wash over him, because he was too busy thinking about how two of the things he had seen in the Deadlights had already come true in a way. Stan was alive and they were going to have a dinner meet up.

Did that mean he was really going to come out? That he was going to have a guy move in with him? That seemed like it would never happen in a million years. Especially with Eddie and Stan moving in. No one wanted to live with a dude who had roommates.

Oh shit. Unless it was one of them?

He _definitely_ didn't see that happening. Stan just had to leave his wife and Eddie was straight.

Anyway, that was a problem for future Richie.

They had to focus on moving them in before they worried about that.

Richie had to focus on making sure he didn't touch them, which he was _definitely_ worrying about. As soon as they touched down in Chicago (after a teary goodbye with Mike, Bill, Bev, and Ben) Richie was running to the store to get supplies. Rubber gloves, plastic wrap, one of those hand grabby thingies, and some crickets from the pet store.

"Why the hell do you need crickets?" Stan asked.

Eddie was making sure to keep a wide berth from them both, since Stan offered to carry one of the boxes. He eyed them wearily, which was just insane, because Richie was pretty sure crickets weren't known for carrying any particular diseases, but whatever. As long as it kept him back.

"I need the crickets to, sadly, experiment with. We're working on the theory that Touch Two kills you again, but I only have one sample. I have to test this hypothesis."

"That is true," Stan mused. "Like any good experiment, are you going to eventually graduate to mammals? Because I don't like being compared to a cricket."

"God, I forgot what nerds you both are," Eddie said with a shiver. "But, uh yeah. How can you be sure it'd work the same way from cricket to human?"

"I didn't think that far ahead," Richie admitted, throwing his hands up in the air. "Well, we gotta start somewhere. Cut me some slack."

"You better think about it," Stan warned. "I'll say it again. I don't like being compared to a bug."

Richie dangled the boxes of crickets in Stan's face.

"But they're lucky, Stan. Just like you! Don't you want to continue being lucky?"

"Stop it!"

Eddie groaned.

"We literally haven't changed. Nothing has changed since we were kids, has it? Thirty fucking years, and not a thing."

"This was a mistake," Richie muttered to himself as Eddie and Stan started bickering among themselves.

It was funny, because technically he was a murderer, but Richie couldn't bring himself to kill the crickets. So they had to wait for them to go naturally (quietly in their sleep) before he started his experiments. Sadly, while he waited, a few of them escaped which drove Eddie insane. And he had no qualms letting Richie and Stan know every morning as they did their awkward dance around the coffee pot.

Once there was finally no more chirping coming from the boxes, Richie donned a pair of the rubber gloves and laid a row of crickets on his desk. Then he took one of the gloves off and gently touched the first cricket with the tip of his finger.

It stirred before getting to its feet and started singing its little heart out.

He was about to touch the next when he heard a knock at the front door. He was about to get up, but Stan got to it before him. He could hear him talking to the next door neighbor, whose voice he surprisingly recognized from all the times he didn't successfully ignore her in the hallway, so he sat back down. He was just about to touch the next cricket when there suddenly was a loud thud and Stan started shouting.

Richie rushed out of the office as Eddie came from the spare bedroom, and they were greeted with the sight of the young ( _very_ young) woman lying on the floor, Stan attempting CPR.

"It wasn't your fault," Eddie said, for what had to be the 20th time, as they sat at the donut shop across from the hospital.

Eddie had called the ambulance while Richie had stood there totally useless. Not like he could have done much. The paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. The three of them had rode to the hospital while they waited for her family to be notified. Because they obviously couldn't leave her alone. No one would want to be alone. Although they _did_ have an extra incentive to tag along, because they wanted to get some answers.

Like, what the fuck had happened?

Well, Richie had learned her name was Lily. He had never known that, since he was an asshole who ignored her every attempt to be neighborly. And then all three of them learned that she had been perfectly healthy until she had turned up on his doorstep.

"You heard what the doctor said. She had been fine. It had to be because I brought the cricket back to life."

"We don't know that," Stan said.

"This means people died when I brought you two back. And I'm not ashamed to say that I am not above giving up... doing _that_ to have you two here. But Lily died... for a fucking cricket."

"We don't know that," Stan repeated louder. He nervously looked around the shop to make sure he hadn't disturbed anyone before continuing at a normal tone. "Richie, i had to watch her fall, okay? I can't talk about this right now."

"Fine."

"And I completely understand that, so I hate to be the one to bring this up now, but I think it _has_ to be said now," Eddie said as Stan sipped his tea and Richie stuffed five donut holes into his mouth. "But we really should continue the experiment. So we know just how careful we have to be."

Richie tried not to think too hard about why Eddie would care if he ever got to touch him again. He was probably just curious.

Curious enough to risk someone's death.

Sure.

"Sure," he said, spraying crumbs all over their table.

Stan went to slap him, or flick him, or whatever before pulling his hand back as if he had been burned.

"Maybe Eddie's right," he said. "Just to be safe."

\--------------------------------------

So Richie reluctantly did some more experimenting. Even borrowed Eddie's stupid calculator watch so he could time everything. It took some time, but they finally figured out that Richie had been right. It was an eye for an eye type deal. That is unless he touched the cricket a second time within a minute.

God, Richie's windowsills were covered in pigeons during that week as they performed the stupid fucking experiment over and over.

He felt pretty numb now that he knew how it all worked because that meant he was never going to be able to hug Eddie or Stan ever again.

That was when the Undeath Proofing became much more serious.

Eddie took control of a lot of it, actually, fixing Richie's car so there was Plexiglas between the driver's side and the other seats. He went shopping for pants and long sleeved shirts that were made of breathable fabric for the summer months so they wouldn't overheat while still being reassured that as much skin as possible was covered. Richie, wanting to help somehow, stocked up on more rubber gloves. And well, then, he mostly just stood there on the sidelines being supportive.

Stan was unfortunately busy getting used to his new life as Stan Abrams. Richie had the connections to fix him up with a new identity, since he was technically legally dead, but there was still a lot of work for Stan to take care of. Driver's license, social security card, a therapist.

Stan was going twice a week while looking for work, and he kept trying to convince Richie and Eddie to as well, to no avail.

Richie didn't know what he could say that would help considering it'd all be a lie.

'Oh, hey, doc! So, my friends died fighting a space clown, who also accidentally gave me necromancy powers, so I brought them back to life. But here's the catch! I can't touch them or they'll die again, which sucks because I'm kinda a little in love with both of them. Oh, did I mention I'm gay and it terrifies me?'

Yeah, no. That wouldn't fly.

But eventually Eddie cracked, and Richie wasn't going to be the odd man out. So, he went, and even though he couldn't talk to Dr. Spring about everything, it was super helpful talking about his sexuality. It took a long time, but he became uncomfortable enough to finally make that move.

_The_ move.

He came out to the Losers first, of course, who were all incredibly supportive. Then it was a matter of working with his agent and manager to carefully fire his ghost writers and start working on his new comedy special that was going to be 100% authentically him.

The night before the show, the Losers had their second dinner meet up, and when Richie walked into the restaurant, he started to tear up. He had never thought he could ever be this happy. It all felt like a dream.

"For goodness sake, Rich," Stan said, when he saw. "Are you going to break down every time we have one of our meet ups?"

A gasp caught in Richie's throat.

"Yeah," he said, pulling Stan into an extremely careful hug. "So what if I do?"

"You're both so embarrassing," Eddie mumbled, but he was smiling at them.

God, Richie couldn't wait for another certain dinner in the future.


End file.
